cygx

Here's the size of it: I have two cameras set up in my window for the purpose of catching vandals, people getting drunk and leaving their bottles everywhere outside my walkway, kids throwing rocks at my door, peeking in my window, and people otherwise generally being a nuisance. One is a Logitech C920 webcam, and the other is an EasyN FS-613A-M136 IP cam. I originally bought the EasyN camera because it seemed like a cheap, viable solution at the time...especially seeing that it had night vision. However the stupid thing's been giving me nothing but trouble. For one (and this was due to my own ignorance and lack of fact checking I'll admit), its night vision is useless to me because I have it behind glass and all it records at night is a massive bright ring reflection of itself unless I put tape over the LED lights and have it angled in a way that ends up not suiting my purposes for it anyway. That's not the worst part, though. Whether or not the camera actually gets detected after I boot my computer up has been a roll of the dice since I got it. I constantly have to unplug the camera and plug it back in just to get it to work, and even that's not a sure thing. Lately I've just given up if the camera doesn't get picked up on my network on startup. I only got it working tonight by sheer luck, I was watching a movie and I got an IP address conflict popup, so I figured I'd check and see if it picked up...and it did. Who knows how. I went into the camera's Search IP Address software and changed its IP to 192.168.2.7 instead of its default 192.168.2.2. Hopefully that'll solve the conflict problem and let it get picked up on the network without fail. Time will tell. A few months after frustration with that camera, I decided to give it another go and shelled out more cash on a webcam of higher quality for the same purpose. I went the webcam route to bypass any issues like the network fiasco I experienced with my first one. Fantastic camera. Problem is... no night vision. I did find a tutorial for modding it by getting in there and breaking the IR filter but I'm having good luck with this thing so far and I don't want to turn it into a $90 paperweight. Basically, I'm looking for a way to get video recording of outside my apartment, at night as well as during the day, from behind my window or a screen, at a quality good enough to at least distinguish faces. Is there any possible way I can achieve this with what I currently have? If I really do need to, I'll shell out yet some more cash for the proper camera and/or equipment, but I'd rather it be under the $100 range. Suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Quick post from my previous thread, http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=37188&p=228173#p228173 This camera has been a pain in my backside since I've gotten it. When it works, it's great. I just can't seem to get this thing to consistently work. I booted my computer up this morning and wouldn't you know, it's not being detected by my recording software, OR the software that came with it. Running a program called IP scanner from range 192.168.2.1 to 192.168.2.9 reveals 3 live hosts: 192.168.2.1 is my router 192.168.2.4 is my OBi110 phone hardware 192.168.2.6 is my PC From what I set last night, the IP camera should be lighting up 192.168.2.7, but it isn't. I'm wondering if the default IP reset back to whatever it was before, or if it's something else. I don't know. I tried unplugging the ethernet cable and plugging it back in, the same to the power, and then to both. I'm fresh out of ideas.

Thanks for the tips, guys. Seems like unless I can macgyver an IR solution, I'm gonna have to shell out some more cash. Side note...big surprise, my EasyN IP camera is once again not picking up. I'll go ahead and make another thread for that though.